My Lucky Charm
by LawyerGirl1
Summary: AU set a year after Andy's death. Leo knew about Paige and never told the sisters - once the cat's out the bag, it can't be put back in! R&R!
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note: AU. This story is set a year after's Andy death – Prue has been working harder at Bucklands than at witchcraft, Phoebe is already enrolled in college, Leo has never stopped being the Halliwells' Whitelighter and Darryl has no wife or children. _

**1. **

"Like dismissive-avoidance infants, fearful-avoidant adults tend to seek less intimacy." Phoebe retyped the quote, adding the reference to the _Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. _"Who would have thought you could write an entire paper based on common sense and logic?"

"Isn't it early to be muttering to yourself, crankypants?" Piper chirped, walking into the kitchen and hugging her sister.

"The whole world is cranky in comparison to you lately," Phoebe shot back, hopping off the chair to refill her coffee cup.

"Leo being back in my life makes it easy," Piper replied, a sudden sadness touching her eyes. "Especially with Andy gone, I realise how lucky I am ... Is she up yet?"

"I hope so, since she's at Bucklands. Been there since six, actually. We should just buy her a tent for her birthday to pitch in her office. Would save a lot of time."

Piper sighed. Before she could say anything, Leo walked in. "I would've said good morning, brother-in-common-law, but from that frown I'm guessing it's anything but," Phoebe said. "Weren't you having that all-important, all-day meeting upstairs?"

Leo's brow furrowed even more.

"Leo?" Piper asked.

"We had a break in the discussions, I need to go back again soon," Leo said, hesitantly. "They've been … concerned about the way things have been around here. Since Andy died … Prue hasn't been … well, she's been missing a lot of the important things. They want to replace her."

Piper blinked. "How? They can't just make another Prue … wait, can they?"

"No. They want to …"

Phoebe exploded. "How do you 'replace' a Charmed One, Leo? And what happened to love and sympathy and understanding and everything those upstairs people want us to risk our lives for? Prue may not have been kicking as much demon ass as Piper and me lately …"

"She's barely kicking demon ankle anymore," Piper murmured.

"But you and I have been making up for that! We have saved innocents! We have sent demonspawn into oblivion! What more do they want? Give her some time to get over Andy's death, for God's sake."

"It's been a year," Leo said softly.

"What is a year when compared to a lifetime, Leo? If Piper died, would you get over her in a year?" Phoebe slammed her laptop shut and stuffed it into her shoulder bag. "I'm studying at the library. Just check at carrel 384 on level three if you need to send _my _replacement for training."

xxxxxxxxxx

Construction men filling in a pothole eyed her and whistled as she walked past. For once, Phoebe neither heard nor cared. Nor noticed that she was strolling through the quietest patch in the park, a spot well-hidden from sight by the many trees. She was fuming and furiously trying to find a solution to the Prue situation, a way to quieten the little voice inside that said that yes, maybe Leo was right and it would be better to replace Prue. Could she cast a spell? Surely that wouldn't be personal gain; it would be to save innocents … and wasn't that what being the Charmed Ones were supposed to be about? If she could …

"Phoebe, duck!"

Her body reacted before her mind processed the words and Phoebe ducked. The demon beastie slashed at air and snarled; Phoebe's leg shot out and kicked the beastie's hind paws from under him. Unfortunately, she was wearing sandals and the beastie seemed to be constructed of steel; she yelped at the unexpected pain and rolled into a ball, instinctively trying to get away. The Yeti ran a yellowed nail up Phoebe's arm, drawing a thin line of blood from her wrist to her shoulder. Phoebe screamed in terror as he drew back a claw and growled; she whimpered in relief when a gunshot rang out and the demon beastie slumped onto her. Seconds after he died, he disappeared and Inspector Darryl Morris was at Phoebe's side.

"I'm glad I didn't decide to skip my jog just because it's my day off," he said, the worry in his eyes belying the glib tone. "Are you hurt?"

"My arm's stinging and my leg …"

"Can you stand on it?"

Phoebe tested her leg, wobbling a little. Darryl placed steadying hands on her shoulders. "Let's go disinfect that arm. I hope the stuff you get from the pharmacy works for supernatural germs. My apartment's just down the street." He guided her to the door, hoping her pallor and shakiness was merely the result of an everyday near-death experience.

But the concern in Darryl's voice, her own concern for Prue, her anger at Leo's assurance that the Charmed Ones can be replaced and, yes, her own grief for Andy all swirled to the surface. And, once inside Darryl's apartment, Phoebe started to cry.

Darryl knew from his closeness with his sister Sheila how to handle a crying woman. He tucked Phoebe's head into the crook of his shoulder, rubbing her back, stroking her hair, making the soothing nonsensical noises he makes to lull his nephews into sleep. Her hands clutched onto the front of his yellow T-shirt like the hands of a drowning woman.


	2. Chapter 2

**2.**

"If Piper ever decides to turn P3 into a coffeebar by day," Phoebe said, sipping at her chocolate latte, "you should totally apply to be a barrista."

Darryl smiled. "After all my help in the demon busting business, I still have to apply?"

Phoebe had stopped crying for long enough to blow her nose and wash her face; when she emerged red-eyed from his bathroom, he decided to give her a cup of coffee and the chance to regain her composure. She was curled up into his most comfortable armchair; he was stretched out on the couch. In her blue jeans and red camisole, in his jogging shorts and white T-shirt, they looked like any two people having a slow start to the day.

"What I wouldn't give for a day without demons," Phoebe sighed, rubbing her bruised ankle.

"Yeah," Darryl agreed. "At least you get to vanquish your demons. Mine get locked up, tried and released on technicalities. After which they go out and do the same things I had to arrest them for in the first place."

"At least we'll never be without jobs," Phoebe said wryly. "And at least you get a day off by law. Prue doesn't get herself killed once a week and the big idiots upstairs want to fire her."

"Seems ungrateful."

"You bet your mocha butt it does! And it's not like San Francisco has been overrun by demons; Piper and Leo and I have been dealing with the daily demonic deluge just fine. And, apart from the fact that they should just give Prue some time to deal, it's so insulting that they don't think Piper and I are capable enough."

"And Prue has been there whenever you've needed the Power of Three."

"Do you think they're right?"

Darryl considered his answer carefully. "You three are three of the best people I know. That's why I risk my job on a weekly basis – not because I want a badge or anything, but because you do more keeping the people of San Francisco safe than the entire police force."

"Sounds like there's a but coming."

"Part of what makes you guys great is that you don't just save the innocents; you help them to get their lives on track. Like the pregnant sandwich girl at Bucklands. Remember how worried she was about having a baby on a budget? Remember what Prue did?"

Prue cleaned out the attic and gave her all the baby-related things. And got Piper to knit baby-sized blankets and jumpers and teddies.

"And that crazy goth kid?"

Prue strongarmed a friend at the animal shelter to give Aviva a holiday job. The responsibility seemed to mature her overnight.

"And how she paid for Max to go to math camp after saving him for kidnappers?"

"I see your point," Phoebe admitted. In contrast to the loving, protective Prue she had only gotten to know since Grams died, Prue now seemed distant and disinterested. Maybe a spell …

Darryl's hand wrapped around her knee. "I think you need a day off, too, Phoebe. Let's go for a drive. A long drive following the most scenic route we know. We can stop by that Farmers' Market Piper's always going on about, get some fruit and freshly baked bread and have a picnic at one of the lookout points. No demon talk. Not even demon thought. Skip school and the supernatural for today. What do you say?"

Phoebe looked at Darryl. "As long as you shower and change into something you don't habitually wear to sweat in first, you have yourself a demon-free date."


	3. Chapter 3

**3.**

The sunlight was just starting to fade as Inspector Morris turned into Prescott Drive.

"That is exactly what the doctor would have ordered if I went to see him," Phoebe said, contentedly, as Darryl parked his car in front of the Manor. "For once I'm not feeling all the muscles in my neck."

"Good," Darryl said, getting out to open the door for Phoebe and helping her out. "How's the ankle?"

"Better, thanks," Phoebe replied, still holding Darryl's hand and leaning into him as she tested her ankle. "Although I think I burned my nose from falling asleep in the sun on the beach."

"You're a witch," Darryl said, tapping her nose lightly. "It's about time you got some warts and moles and such."

"Phoebe Halliwell!" Piper slammed the front door behind her and marched down the porch.

"Uh-oh. You might want to duck out for this one, Darryl."

"It's okay. I did a course in dealing with domestic violence."

Piper started pacing the sidewalk in front of them, her cheeks flushed. "So not only is carrel 384 on floor four, not floor three, but you weren't in it and the librarian says she hasn't seen you all day. Now, I realise you're no longer a fifteen-year-old handing out balloons at the zoo, but you need to realise it too! I need to know where you are so I can find you and check up when demons come in through the laundry room window! Especially when Leo is closeted upstairs all day and I can't reach him either!"

"Demons? What kind of demons?"

"Demons of the demonic kind, of the find-the-Charmed-Ones-and-kill-them-kind. Excuse me that I didn't ask for species specifics while trying to keep myself from being decapitated!"

"Piper," Darryl interjected, "where these demons about six-ten, dark fur, long yellow nails and teeth?"

Piper shot him a surprised look. "And extremely smelly breath, yes."

"One tried to kill Phoebe this morning on her way to the library."

Piper looked at Phoebe with concern. "Are you okay?"

Phoebe nodded. "Thanks to Darryl. He saved my life, actually. So I can come home and you can kill me in anger, it seems."

"I'm allowed to be angry if I don't know where you are and if you're alive and …"

"Where's Prue?" Darryl interrupted.

"Bucklands, of course," Piper replied. "Why?"

"If one attacked you at home and one followed Phoebe, then maybe one tried to attack Prue there," Darryl explained.

Piper shook her head. "She came home just after Phoebe left to change her shirt. Spilt coffee on it. We were in the laundry room when the demons came ... Darryl, would you like to stay for supper? Now that I'm not intending on having Phoebe's head on a silver platter, it might be a nice meal."

"Delicious as all your meals are," Darryl smiled, "I have to decline. I have plans with my sister."

"Oh, what a polite way of saying you've had enough of my company," Phoebe teased, poking him and realising that she was still holding his hand. It had felt so natural that she didn't notice.

They said their goodbyes and the Halliwells walked back into the Manor arm-in-arm. Darryl waited until the door closed behind them before driving away, humming to himself as he did so.


	4. Chapter 4

**4.**

A week later, Prue opened the front door to find Darryl on the steps, hand raised to knock.

"Morning, Prue," he grinned. "Is Phoebe awake yet?"

"I'll be down in a second!" a voice yelled from upstairs.

"I assume she's awake," Prue replied. "But it's barely dawn. I think the more pertinent question is why is she awake?"

"Darryl and I are going for a jog," Phoebe answered, running downstairs with her jogging shoes in hand. Before Prue could process the idea, two Yeti-like demons pushed Darryl into the hedges and came snarling through the door. The crash of glass and Piper's scream confirmed that another had gone in through her bedroom window. With a tired flick of her hand, Prue sent one thumping into a wall and Phoebe scissor-kicked the second into the staircase. Both hirsute bodies disappeared instantly and Phoebe ran toward a prone Darryl.

"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked as Darryl got groggily to his feet. "Your head's bleeding! Leo!"

Leo orbed in and healed the gash on Darryl's head. "They tried to get Piper, too. She froze it and pushed it back out the window."

"It's the same demons that came for us last week," Piper said, coming down the stairs. "And it's the only demon attack we had since last week. Something's wrong."

"Something's wrong?" Prue echoed, checking her watch impatiently. "No, Piper. One demon attack a week is not something wrong, it's a chance to catch up on work. And I have a stack of papers waiting for me, so goodbye."

"Don't report this to the Elders," Phoebe warned Leo as Prue walked out of the house. "We are not giving up on Prue."

"Maybe you should focus on the demons first, Pheebes," Darryl said quietly. "Sending in the same demons at the same time every week, especially when it's been proved at the first attack that it's easy for you to dispose of them … well, it seems like somebody's trying to get your attention."

"I need to get to P3. Leo, you figure out a way to keep the Elders from replacing Prue. Phoebe, you check the Book of the Shadows and find out who is sending Yetis. Let me know when you guys find anything," Piper snapped.

"I don't like you in big sister mode," Phoebe said.

"Me either." Piper headed upstairs with Leo, discussing the problematic plumbing at P3.

"Guess we'll have to take a raincheck on the morning jog," Phoebe sighed. "Sorry you came over here for nothing."

"If you're going to be doing detective work," Darryl said with a smile, "maybe you can use a member of the SFPD?"

"Definitely," Phoebe grinned.

xxxxxxxxxx

"According to Wikipedia," Darryl said, hunched over Phoebe's laptop, "Bigfoot in all its incarnations is a solitary creature who shies away from civilization. Although travellers' report being sheltered by ape-like bipeds after getting lost in storms."

"There is _nothing_ in the Book of Shadows about Bigfoot, Sasquatch or the yeti. And, quite frankly, I don't see a connection between demons and monkeys who like their privacy." Phoebe closed the Book and slumped onto the couch.

"We are not monkeys, miss."

Phoebe instinctively hurled the Book of Shadows at the source of the voice. The Bigfoot grabbed it out of the air and put it gently on the coffee table. He was somewhat taller, his skin darker and his nails less gnarled than the previous ones.

"One should not throw books at one's visitors," he reprimanded.

"Then one's visitors should use the doorbell," Phoebe replied acidly. "Who are you and why have you been attacking us?"

"You have misconstrued our intentions, miss. We meant simply to take you and your sisters with us to show you what we need. My name is Rowan. I wish to talk with you. And your gentleman may take his hand off his gun. I promise your safety."

"I have her safety at heart too, mister," Darryl growled. "So I'll keep my hands and my gun where I want."

Rowan inclined his head. "I, too, am a primate. I understand the need to guard one's mate."

"So," Phoebe said, valiantly struggling against a blush, "what are your intentions?"

"Will you come with me, miss?"

"This morning three of your friends broke into my house and I'm expected to follow you like a tame puppy?" Phoebe asked in disbelief.

"You have my word that I will guarantee your safety." Rowan extended an oversized paw. "I believe humans like to 'shake on it' as a sign of faith."

"Keep those hands where I can see them," Darryl warned.

When Phoebe's hand touched Rowan's, she immediately had a premonition. "Oh," she said, softly. "In that case …."


	5. Chapter 5

**5. **

"So apparently Rowan's ancestors made a deal with the Spanish. Basically, the Bigfeet could live on the Farallon Islands undisturbed as long as they left the cattle alone and since the Bigfeet like their privacy, they agreed," Phoebe paused to take a sip of water.

"Get to the point," Prue, typing spreadsheets on her laptop, mumbled. Darryl and Leo also sat around the kitchen table with Phoebe while Piper was fixing dinner.

"The council just approved a new development on the islands. In my premonition, this development will lead to the capture of all the Bigfeet. They will all be experimented on and kept in zoos and we have to stop that from happening."

"Why?" Prue asked.

"I know it's a little different from what we usually do," Phoebe said evenly, "but they are still innocents in need of our help."

"I'm still going to need a reason to put my job and my life in danger again," Prue said.

"Because we are the Charmed Ones, Prue! Because Piper and Leo and Darryl and I have been busting our chops lately, making sure that the Elders don't bind your powers and replace you. And," Phoebe said, slamming down the glass on the table so hard that it cracked, "because I need a reason to believe that you are the good person I came to know after Grams died and not this selfish, distant excuse for a person who will eventually die alone in her office, missed only by her PA and mourned by nobody!"

She slammed the kitchen door on the way out.

"And," Darryl said quietly, "because the development company is a front for a demon named Melchom, posing in this life as a property lawyer named Malcolm Wade. The Book of Shadows list him as a treasurer of hell, so it seems fair to assume that the proceeds will somehow fund evil."

Piper wiped her hands on a dishcloth. "I'll go talk to Phoebe and see if we can find a potion or a spell."

"Let me," Darryl said. "Pheebes and I can trace the other owners of the company and see if we can ferret out other demons. You and Leo can check the Book of Shadows for potions." He looked at Prue with a blank expression. "And I agree with what Pheebes said, Prue. Andy was my partner and there's not a day that I don't miss him, not a day that I don't ask myself if maybe, somehow, I could've stopped him dying. If maybe something I did made him die. Maybe there was. Maybe there wasn't. I'm not saying get over him. I don't think anybody ever gets over anybody else's death. But you have to ask yourself if sitting there, dead on the inside and selfishly risking your sisters' lives every time they have to cover for you, is really what you want."

Prue was left alone in the kitchen, flabbergasted.

xxxxxxxxxx

"This seat taken?"

Phoebe, sitting on the bottom step of the back porch with her knees drawn to her legs, shook her head and sniffled. Darryl sat down, wrapping an arm around her and she nestled against him.

"I shouldn't have said that," Phoebe said in a low voice.

"Did you mean it?"

"For the most part."

"Then it's good you said it."

"I heard what you said. I should rather have gone with that version."

Darryl shrugged. "Maybe Prue needed to hear both versions."

"Maybe I need to learn to keep my mouth shut."

"Maybe you should learn to not be so hard on yourself, my dear."

"Maybe," Prue said, standing in the back door, "you should tell me what I can do to help kick demon ass."

As she followed them back inside, she fingered the note she had slipped into her pocket earlier that day. It was a short note, simply outlining the steps a witch had to take to bind herself and destroy her powers.


	6. Chapter 6

**6.**

Leo sat in the passenger seat of Darryl's patrol car and watched the driver with some amusement. Despite the Halliwells' proven record against demons, despite Leo's private assurance that they would orb in at the slightest sign of trouble and even despite the fact that this was a simple reconnaissance mission, Darryl had one hand on his gun, one on his binoculars and one foot firmly on the gas pedal.

"Welcome to the hard part of loving a Halliwell, my friend," he said with a smile.

Darryl didn't lift his eyes from the seemingly innocuous offices of the demonic realtors. Prue and Phoebe were inside, pretending to be interested in purchasing one of the lots and seeing if Phoebe would flash on any of the people. It involved the sisters dressing the part of wealthy heiresses; Prue in her usual business-like suits and Phoebe in tight-fitting jeans and an expensive silk bouse. Darryl did not like this plan. "What do you mean?"

"That, as loving and beautiful and all-round amazing as the Halliwell sisters are, you have to get used to them risking their lives to save strangers on a semi-weekly basis."

"I'm a cop, Leo. Some might say I do the same thing."

Leo didn't say, _But you don't always get this intense about protecting and serving._

"It's going to be different, once Prue leaves," Leo mused.

"Is she going to?"

Leo shrugged in a way that belied his concern. "The Elders are keen on replacing her. She's actually on probation. After two weeks, they will come to a decision about the Charmed Ones. If Prue hasn't proved her commitment to the cause of good … It's too easy for a witch to be turned and the Elders don't want to risk a witch with great powers if there's a chance she may become evil."

"But without Prue, there'll be no Charmed Ones."

"Which is why the Elders are so slow on making a final decision. Binding Prue's powers would destroy the Charmed ones, who are a great buttress against the forces of evil. Yes, they could reconstitute the Power of Three, but it's too possible Piper and Phoebe won't be able to work as well with a fourth Halliwell. Maybe they would even …" Leo bit down his words and rubbed his jaw ruefully; he had said too much.

Darryl pounced on his words. "A fourth Halliwell? You mean that they have another sister and they don't know about her?"

"I'm not supposed to say …"

"You already did." Darryl whistled through his teeth. "From the mom's side, but not from the same dad. Half-sister, then. Would being a half-pint Halliwell be enough to provide magical powers? Depends on the dad … their mom kept it a secret for a reason and if Grams didn't tell the girls, the secret's a big one and possibly related to the dad. A warlock? A demon? No, a demon's girl would pose an even bigger risk of witch turning evil, the dad would have to be someone of proven goodness …Leo! Don't tell me their mom had a baby with a Whitelighter!"

"I'm not supposed to say …"

Darryl whistled again. "I wish you hadn't. I don't want to keep this a secret from Pheebes. Hmmm. So the Elders know they can reconstitute the Power of Three, but they don't know what will happen when they bind Prue's powers."

"Or they're guessing at Piper's and Phoebe's reactions if Prue is forced out by the Elders and they don't want to risk turning them away as well."

"Leo," Darryl asked, his voice turning from surprise to seriousness, "what would happen if Prue decided of her own will to bind her powers? To walk away from witchcraft out of her own?"

It was Leo's turn to look surprised. "No Charmed One has ever done such a thing; it is unthinkable!"

"Start thinking it," Darryl advised grimly. "Prue dropped a piece of paper on the porch last night. It sets out the steps a witch can take to bind her powers."


	7. Chapter 7

**7.**

Back at the Manor, the three Halliwells, Leo and Darryl were again seated around the kitchen table and plotting strategies. Prue and Phoebe had gained admission to one of the bigwigs' offices; their feigned interest in the planned development at Farallon Islands ("a lovely lot for two such lovely ladies … sunset views from the deck, a private jetty and, of course, all the amenities included …") had granted Phoebe a premonition of Malcom the property lawyer-slash-treasurer-from-hell negotiating a contract for scientific experiments to be carried out on the Bigfoot community.

"I had the feeling it was going to happen soon, so we need to vanquish him and fast." Phoebe's eyes were clouded with worry. "But we also need to make sure that there's no further development on the Islands. It's too easy to replace one demon with another."

Leo and Darryl muttered agreements. Piper shot Phoebe and Prue a questioning look. "Did you guys find out anything on your stake-out?"

Leo choked on his water and orbed out of the room.

Darryl, used to the IA, could withstand the Halliwell's probing looks better. "Nothing that's not known already," he replied. "Nobody that came in and out of the building flags any federal interest and nobody there has criminal records beyond the odd parking violation."

Leo orbed back in.

"So you can't ask Darryl for help on this one!" he said, a little too briskly. "Nothing Darryl can do for you! One of my charges is in trouble. I'll be back later."

Leo orbed out again.

_Damn_, Darryl thought, _that's a handy trick_.

"Is there anything else we need to know, Darryl?" Piper asked evenly.

_Well, Piper, after promising that you will be included in his world, Leo has had to keep even more secrets from you. Like the fact that you have another sister, another Halliwell with the power to release Prue from her obligations as witch. Leo doesn't want to tell you, because he is scared of hurting you again and of losing his footing with the Elders. That may seem cowardly, but that position helps him to plead your case with the Elders in a way otherwise closed to you. And now I know that, not only does Prue wish to be released from her obligations, but that there is a way she can do so and everybody will be the better for it. _

_I think._

"Well," Darryl said, taking a long draught of his water, "that depends on your definition of need. And I would have to say yes."

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This time, it was Phoebe who found Darryl on the back porch. She sat down next to him, wrapping her arms around her knees. After Darryl had told the sisters the barest facts, that their mother had had another child who was a girl who could potentially take Prue's place in the Power of Three and thus ease the burden on all of them, he had escaped their stunned faces and left them privacy to decide. But he couldn't bear leaving the house just yet.

"I took the liberty of running a search on birth records for the year … your sister was born," Darryl said quietly. "Nothing came up, but there was a baby, a foundling, that was placed at a Roman Catholic convent with a note requesting that her name start with the letter 'P'."

"What is she like?" Phoebe asked as if she didn't want to know.

"I can't tell from official records, Pheebes, it's not fair to judge her on who she is by what she was."

"That means she's run into trouble with the law."

"So did you as a teenager and look at you now. You know you're going to be a better psychologist for having first-hand experience of being a rebellious, misunderstood teenager. Maybe Paige will be a better social worker."

"Paige."

"That's what the nuns named her."

"I'd expected a name of religious significance." Phoebe bit her bottom lip. "Mom wasn't around to tell us, but why would Grams keep this a secret?"

"I don't think your grandmother knew, Phoebe."

"But why wouldn't she? It's not like my mother could've hid being pregnant from Grams and she was so fair, she would've told our dad …" The truth dawned on Phoebe. "Oh …"

Darryl covered her hands with his and rubbed a little warmth into them.

"She's Sam Wilder's daughter, isn't she," Phoebe said, leaning into Darryl. "So my mom had a daugther with a Whitelighter and the Elders are considering having her step into Prue's shoes, but they have a problem with Leo and Piper dating … and Leo never told us, never told _Piper_, about this … This is just too confusing, Darryl, even for the Elders. Why would Leo and Piper dating be such a problem if witches and Whitelighters have had children together and the world of magic didn't end? Is Paige such an abomination, such an awful person, that witches and Whitelighters aren't allowed together?"

"No," Darryl replied. "She's warm and loyal, very passionate about her work, still a little impulsive. She gets along well with children, has a strong hatred for people who abuse children, and a very strict sense for fairness."

Phoebe looked at Darryl, furrowing her brow. "You said you couldn't tell what she is like from official records."

"I can't," Darryl shrugged. "But she's a social worker and our professional paths cross every now and again. I've met her before Leo spilled the beans this morning and when I checked the system this afternoon, I only put the pieces together."

He looked at Phoebe directly.

"I can take you to meet her tonight. If you want."


	8. Chapter 8

**8.**

Phoebe curled up on her bed, poised to write a spell to vanquish Malcolm. Usually, once she cleared her mind of all extraneous things and focused solely on the demon at hand, it became easy. Tonight, it was too difficult to forget about the secrets that have been shared.

_One. That her mother had a child with her Whitelighter._

_Two. That the child, placed into the hands of nuns, had grown up to become a social worker in the Bay area. _

_Three. That Darryl knew and liked the fourth Halliwell. Even though he didn't say it, _Phoebe thought, _he spoke of her with a lot of respect. Does he speak about me that way?_

She had refused Darryl's offer to take her to meet Paige, mumbling an excuse before saying goodbye and hurrying back inside. She didn't need witchly powers to know he looked confused and felt a little hurt. But she couldn't bear listening to him praise Paige.

She shook her head as thought to clear it.

_Four. That Leo knew and didn't tell Piper. _

_Five. That there's a way out for all of us. Prue wouldn't need to bind her powers. The Elders won't need to replace her and replace her memory of all that had happened. Piper and I wouldn't have to work twice as hard at busting demons. _

She bit her pen thoughtfully. "With the Power of Three, we vanquish thee. Go back to hell and languish there, never again breathe earth's air." That should do for Malcolm, but how could they keep Rowan and his family safe?

Piper knocked on her door and entered, moving with more restraint than Phoebe would've had. "I have the potion ready for Malcolm."

"I have the spell."

"Let's go ask Prue if she knows how to keep the Bigfeet safe."

"Wait, Piper," Phoebe said, patting the space next to her on the bed. "Do you want to talk about …"

"Leo's betrayal? Leo plotting with the Elders to replace my sister? Leo knowing that I had another sister and not telling me? Leo being too cowardly to confess when the secret had get out and leaving it to your Darryl to tell us? Leo still not returned from his so-called crisis with his so-called other charge?" Piper shook her head, her words given an extra edge by the calm in her voice. "No, Phoebe, I don't. When Leo returns, I will tell him that it is definitely and finally over between us and that, if it possible, I would like the Elders to give us another Whitelighter."

"Leo's a good guy, Piper," Phoebe said softly. "You know he would't have kept the secret from you if there was a way to tell you."

"There was, Phoebe. There's always a way to do things so you don't hurt the ones who love you and it seems Leo is intent on always chosing the other way. When we went to the future and I saw how things would be with Leo, I should've realised that this relationship is idiotic. I can't trust Leo anymore and we will never have enough time to talk things through. Not while I have innocents to save and he has other charges to take care of."

Phoebe opened her mouth to protest Piper's bitter words, but Piper cut her off. "Now. We have to see if Rowan and his family can be saved. Come."


	9. Chapter 9

**9.**

It seemed anticlimatic, Phoebe thought, that they would arrive at the scene of a vanquishing in a SUV with a dented fender and a PETA bumper sticker. One would think that witches, especially once seen as powerful, would have something a little more … magical. Of course, part of the success of the vanquishing depended on not alerting the demons. In this case, Prue had simply called Malcolm Wade and purred about wanting to purchase a lot. Her sweet nothings about performance bonusses and gratuities for getting the sale through as quickly as possible got Malcolm to agree to a late-night meeting at the office.

The plan was to throw the vial of potion at him, chant the spell and send his demonic butt back from whence it came.

It worked.

But the sisters had none of the giddy giggles in the car on the way back to the Manor. None of the thriumphant joy that came with defeating evil. Even some of the sisterly bickering about whose turn it was to pay for gas would've been a welcome distraction, Phoebe thought, slumped in the passenger seat. The air was thick with words left unsaid.

But the thing about your sisters is that you know what they're thinking.

_I'm sure Prue is concerned about Bucklands, Paige, binding her powers and Piper. Probably in that order_, Phoebe mused. _Piper will be determined not to think about Leo, so she won't want to think about Paige and instead be focussing on the next bands she can book for P3. _

The chirping of her cellphone interrupted her train of thought.

"Hello?"

"Phoebe? Hi, it's Darryl." He cleared his throat, sounding a little uncertain. "Listen, uhm, the fire brigade just reported suspected arson activity at an office building downtown …"

"Yeah, it was us. We vanquished Malcolm Wade, property lawyer to the stars of hell."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Phoebe smiled at the concern in his voice. "We've been doing this for long enough to get used to it."

"There's something that didn't quite make sense to me," Darryl said. "How could they have filed an enviromental impact assessment without discovering the Bigfeet on the Islands?"

Phoebe bit her bottom lip. "They couldn't have."

"And you can't continue with developments without those assessments. It's against the law."

"So if a concerned citizen was to alert the police …"

"… the police would have to refer the matter to the Environmental Crimes Unit …"

"…and an investigation of that kind would surely scare off potential investors."

"Yes," Darryl agreed. "Those investigations can take months. Years. Without anybody ever having to go near the islands."

"And with no return on investment likely within the foreseeable future …"

"… no investors …"

"… and without investors …"

"… no development and without development …"

"… no experiments on the Bigfeet!" Phoebe exhaled, signalling a thumbs-up to her sisters. "It won't be a permanent solution, but it'll buy us time. Thanks, Darryl."

"Anytime." His sincerity made her stomach tingle. "I have to go investigate that suspicious fire downtown. Shall we go for a jog tomorrow morning?"

"We shall," Phoebe agreed and disconnected with a smile.

_Author's note: I plan on writing a series of installments within the same story that has the basic feel of an episode of Charmed. Each installment will deal with a demon de jeur that needs to be vanquished, but there will be multi-story archs like the problem with Paige and the budding friendship between Darryl and Phoebe. Please review! I even appreciate the criticism!_


	10. Chapter 10

Sun was just rising as Inspector Darryl Morris pulled into Prescott Drive the next day. According to the weather forecasts, the rest of San Fransisco was set to have a sunny day – but the voices inside the Manor promised a storm in store for the Halliwells. He looked at his reflection in the door, the skewered image of a man dressed in jogging shorts and a white T-shirt, and mentally braced himself before knocking.

It took a few moments before Phoebe opened.

"You plan on jogging in that?" Darryl teased, gesturing at her flannel pajama bottoms and blue tank top.

"I don't plan on jogging. If I leave those two alone with knives, I might be down a sister by the time I get back," she said, pulling him inside the Manor. The two angry voices were even louder. "It's like the time Prue gave Piper's Barbie a haircut. Only worse."

"What can be worse than a bald Barbie?"

"Leo's still missing," Phoebe sighed, flopping down onto the couch. Darryl sat down next to her. "And I suggested that we decide what to do about Paige. Piper has no interest in meeting her, probably only because Leo never told her. Prue thinks we should get to know her 'unofficially'. You know, in the way a security guard gets to know a suspected shoplifter."

"And what do you think?"

"I'm the youngest child, not the middle one. I'm good at causing conflict, not resolving it," Phoebe shrugged. "Actually, I'm about five minutes away from turning the garden hose on both of them."

Darryl grinned at her and Phoebe felt her heart flip over.

"Am I interrupting something?" a voice inquired delicately. Both heads turned into the direction of the voice.

"Hi, Grams," Phoebe said.

"You're blushing like the time I caught you on the couch with Clay Lawson," Grams observed with some amusement. "Darling, you need to sort your sisters out."

"I'll go get the garden hose," Darryl volunteered and Grams laughed.

"Just the two in the kitchen or is my third sister also getting herself into trouble?" Phoebe asked, raising an eyebrow. She was still a little annoyed that Grams had never seen fit to share the knowledge of the fourth Halliwell before. _Okay, more than a little annoyed._

Grams looked grave. "I found out about Paige when your mother died, Phoebe. It wasn't the right time to tell you. You were so small and so upset."

_Fair enough_. "But what about all the time afterward?"

"It wouldn't have been fair on Paige. She was adopted by a couple who couldn't have children biologically; how do you take away her adoptive mother when her biological mother passed away years before?" Grams stepped forward, her wraith-like hands touching Phoebe's softly. "I knew I would have to explain my decision to you and I never thought I made the wrong choice. I know that I denied the four of you the chance to get to know each other, to bond like sisters should, but I also denied myself the chance of getting to know my grandchild. And I did what I thought was for the best."

_Also fair enough, I suppose. Grams makes a good case for herself. _"Halliwells never second-guess themselves," Phoebe said wryly.

"Should we?" Grams asked and they smiled at each other. Then Grams looked suddenly serious again. "Honey, you and your sisters need to focus on finding Leo."

"Isn't he just hiding from the wrath of Piper?"

Grams shook her head. "You know from that feeling of dread in the pit of your stomach that that's not true."

"How do you know about the pit of my stomach?" Phoebe asked, surprised.

"The power of premonition has been in our family for generations, Phoebe," Grams said, gently. "But no Halliwell's power has come close to yours. You can tap into your feelings, into your emotions, to activate your power. Just think about Leo and about where he can be."

Phoebe sat on the couch, closing her eyes and drawing strenght from Darryl's presence.

_Leo. _

_Think about Leo. _

_Where could Leo be?_

xxxxxxxxx

"So you can have premonitions without touching anything now?" Piper asked, slicing potatoes as though they had said her shoes were ugly. "That's nice."

"The nice thing about it," Phoebe replied, "is that I saw where Leo is. Piper, he's not hiding from you."

"Even though he should be," Prue muttered and Phoebe jabbed her side before continuing, "He's in a cage somewhere. Chained to one of the bars, actually. It's a really gloomy, really creepy place. We have to get him out of there."

"Any idea where the really gloomy, really creepy cage might be?" Prue asked.

"The closest I can see is that it's in a cave somewhere."

"Maybe his other charge might help," Darryl said, perched on his kitchen chair. "Remember he said last night that another one of his charges is in trouble? She might be able to give us some more information."

"That's good thinking, Inspector Morris," Phoebe smiled.

"Except that we don't know who Leo's other charges are," Prue pointed out.

Phoebe's face fell. Piper wiped her hands on a dishcloth, laid her knife flat on the cutting board and yelled "Natalie!" so loudly that Prue jumped.

"Who is Natalie?" Darryl asked.

"I am Natalie," a redhead said, orbing into the room. She was wearing jeans and hiking boots with an unfortunately yellow jacket.

Piper picked up her knife and pointed at Natalie. "Tell me where Leo is or I will turn evil before you can say 'sartorially disadvantaged'."

"Even you should know I could not say," Natalie said, her mouth making a moue of distate. "Whitelighters guard their witches. It is not the other way around. The Elders shall deal with this situation. And you should know better than to jest about witches turning evil."

In two rapid moves, Piper had her knife against Darryl's neck, pressing into his skin. He sat very still. "Killing an innocent usually turns a witch evil," she said flatly. "Now you can either tell me where Leo is or you can explain to the Elders why the Power of Three doesn't exist. And what your part in the end of the Charmed Ones was."

"Piper!" Prue said. "We can't kill Darryl. There'll be too much paperwork."

"Hey!" Phoebe protested.

Piper's knife dug into Darryl's neck a little deeper.

Natalie sighed. "I cannot tell you where he is. But I can tell you that he was with a charge of his, a young woman named Lara Saylor, when he … was taken."

"Good," Piper said, laying the knife on the cutting board again. "Now go away and tell the Elders that they can kiss my witchy ass."

Natalie orbed.

"Piper!" Phoebe yelled. "Let's not threaten to kill Darryl again, okay?"

"Oh, relax," Piper said, unfreezing Darryl. "You were all so focussed on the knife that you didn't notice I froze him. He's fine."

"I have a feeling that you froze me," Darryl said, rubbing the red line on his neck. "And I have a feeling I don't want to know why."

"You need to find all the information you can about a woman named Lara Saylor," Piper said. "Phoebe, look in the Book of Shadows if anything resembles Leo's cage. Prue, go to Bucklands. We'll call you when we need you."

"I still don't like you in big sister mode," Phoebe said, grabbing Darryl's hand and leaving the kitchen. "So how will you find Lara Saylor? The same way you got Paige, I suppose."

"Can you bring the Book to the station?" Darryl asked, his thumb tracing patterns on Phoebe's palm.

"I don't think I'm supposed to," Phoebe said.

"It's a shame," Darryl replied. "I would've liked your company while trying to find Lara Saylor. We make a good team."

Phoebe nodded, her mouth too dry to reply. But not to dry to curve into a goofy grin when Darryl leaned forward and kissed her cheek softly before leaving the Manor.

She ran upstairs with a definite bounce in her step.


	11. Chapter 11

Two hours later, Darryl was back at the Manor.

"I have bad news," he said to Piper, who opened the door. Her jeans and pink T-shirt was clean, but a dab of flour on her nose and the smell of cookies indicated how she spent her Saturday morning off.

"Shocker," she said. "At least Phoebe saw something in the Book. Let's talk in the kitchen. My oatmeal cookies need to come out of the oven."

Phoebe was already seated at the kitchen table. She had changed her flannel for a black skirt and a furry white top. "You look nice," Darryl said, kissing her cheek and sitting down next to her.

"And you look worried," Phoebe replied, feeling butterflies nest in her stomach.

"I found Lara Saylor," Darryl sighed.

Lara Saylor, a single black female, 28 years, five foot ten, dreadlocks, brown eyes. The details were marked clearly on her hospital chart.

"Her apartment was broken into by a particularly vicious burglar last night. Neighbours report screaming, furniture breaking, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary for that neigborhood, but the lady upstairs phoned the police when a man got thrown out of the window."

"Leo?" Piper asked.

"From the description the neighbor gave, it sounds like it could've been Leo," Darryl agreed. "The same neighbour also said that a second man came to the broken window, sprouted leathery wings, flew down to grab Leo and left."

Phoebe hastily turned pages in the Book. "A man that could match this description?"

Darryl studied the charcoal drawing of a snarling, bird-like caricature. "Yes. What is it?"

"A harpy."

"Tell me that's another name for a kind-hearted creature who snatches men for nothing more sinister than a good game of poker."

"No. It's the ancient Greek gods' ministers of vengeance."

"Ah." Darryl frowned. "Who would want to minister vengeance to Leo? He's one of the good guys, isn't he?"

"One of the best," Phoebe replied. "Which is why one of the not so good guys might want to take him out of the picture."

"And getting rid of him would weaken you, which would ease an attack," Darryl realised.

"You really weren't kidding when you said you have bad news," Piper said, spooning batter onto a baking sheet. "So the harpy stole Leo, presumably to take him to the cage Phoebe saw in her premonition."

Phoebe nodded. "And I can't find anything in the Book that matches …," Phoebe turned back a page and fell silent, then tapped a manicured nail against the page. "I saw this river in my premonition."

"Which river is it?"

"The river Styx."

"As in the one that runs through the underworld and the ferryman carts dead people over it?" Piper asked.

Phoebe nodded again. "And it says here that witches cannot enter the underworld. Apparently, our ancestor Brianna tried to stop _her_ Whitelighter from sealing a deal with an unidenitifed conman."

"So Whitelighters can get in?" Darryl clarified.

Piper waved a wooden spoon at him. "I am _not _asking that Natalie to help us. You heard her. She'd rather have Leo die than break any of her precious rules."

"I wasn't thinking about Natalie," Darryl confessed, clearing his throat. "I was thinking about Paige."


	12. Chapter 12

"I wish the Book of Shadows had a section on etiquette in it," Phoebe grumbled, smoothing down her skirt and glaring at the apartment building in front of her. "How do you knock on a stranger's door and say something like, 'Hi! I need you to orb into the underworld and save my Whitelighter, because he is your Whitelighter, too, because I am one of three sisters you never knew about'?"

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Darryl said, taking her hand. "Now stop fidgeting. You look beautiful."

"Yes, this is the outfit featured in this month's Cosmo and suggested for 'wearing when springing your existance on unsuspecting relatives'," Phoebe muttered.

"Do you want to wait in the car?" Darryl asked, cocking an eyebrow at her. "Do you want me to send in Piper?"

"No," Phoebe sighed, pulling a face at Darryl. "I pulled the short straw, so I get to meet Paige first."

"Just a thought," Darryl remarked, knocking at apartment 318, "don't tell Paige you drew straws over who has to meet her first."

Phoebe didn't have time to reply before the door was opened. By her sister. There was something about the slender figure, the long brown hair, that reminded Phoebe of her mother. _Except that Patty would never wear a skirt that short_, she thought censoriusly, then shook her head at herself.

"Hi, Darryl," Paige said, a friendly lilt in her voice. "Come on in. I haven't met your girlfriend yet. Hi, my name is Paige Matthews."

Phoebe took her sister's hand and shook it. "I'm Phoebe. Phoebe Halliwell."

"Have we met somewhere before?" Paige asked, tilting her head. "You look awfully familiar."

_That's because I'm family_, Phoebe thought.

"Can I get you guys some soda, tea, coffee?" Paige offered, waving them over to her sofa. The apartment was a modern, open-plan affair decorated in light, clean shades. Phoebe recognised Prue's sense of decoration in the neat, orderly room.

"Water is fine," Darryl replied, thinking it best to lower the amount of caffeine and sugar Paige would ingest. "Actually, we have something important to talk to you about."

Paige handed them each a bottle of water and curled into her chair, tucking her feet under her. "Something work-related?"

"No, more important than that." Darryl looked at Phoebe. "I think it's best if you take over."

xxxxxxxxxx

"That went well," Darryl said with determined cheer as he opened the car door for Phoebe.

"If you weren't the cops, she would've phoned the cops," Phoebe replied, slumping into the car seat. "I think she gets that tendency to overreact from me, actually."

"Is it possible to overreact to the news that you have three sisters when you always thought of yourself as an only child and that those sisters are the all-powerful Charmed Ones who need your help, because your dad was a Whitelighter and that is the only way they can get their Whitelighter back?" Darryl patted his pockets. "I left my cellphone upstairs. Be back now."

_Great_, Phoebe sighed, hitting her head against the dashboard. _You were supposed to recruit Paige. Now you have to go home and tell your sister that your other sister was frightened off by this sister and refuses to help retrieve Leo. Is there a spell that could give one of us Whitelighter-powers so that we can orb in and help Leo? Maybe I can …_

Her train of thought was derailed when two figures climbed into the car. "I thought you said you would only get involved with my self-delusional fantasies when hell freezes over and that my psychiatrist should check my dosage?" Phoebe blurted out in surprise.

"I can be a little abrupt," Paige grimaced. "And let's just say Darryl convinced me that hell is colder than I thought."


	13. Chapter 13

**13.**

It had been an awkward afternoon, which rapidly deteriorated into an awful evening. Like meeting your boyfriend's mother when you know she disapproves of you, Phoebe reflected, leaning her aching head against the kitchen table. And when she knows you have been ridiculing her shoes behind her back.

Paige listened quietly to the Reader's Digest version of events – that Leo had been abducted and was kept in a cave in the Underworld that witches could not enter, but that Paige with her Whitelighter-blood might be able to access. By tacit agreement, the conversation focused solely on the crises at hand and did not venture into sticky tangents like family, sisterhood and possible replacements of the Power of Three. Paige seemed to take her cue from Darryl, sitting next to him on the couch and looking at him before venturing a question about what she had to do. Phoebe knew it was Darryl's influence that got Paige to go to the Manor and to listen to the sisters and, when Darryl was called away on a double homicide, the tension in the room doubled.

And it was such a straightforward solution. Simple. Easy, even. Phoebe groaned. Whoever said that the simplest solution is best, wasn't a witch. Oxxam's razor, my ass.

Paige had never experienced with her powers. Never even know she had powers with which to experiment. Which meant that she could not orb, could not enter the Underworld and could not save Leo.

"Do you perhaps know any Whitelighters who could assist me?" she asked, after her umpteenth failure to orb out of the living room. "Who could show me how to orb?"

Piper, Prue and Phoebe looked at each other. "Well," Phoebe said, "we could ask …"

A faint tinkling sound echoed through the room as Natalie orbed in. Her bland white pantsuit suited her even less than the hiking boots and yellow jacket from the day before. She folded her arms across her chest, assuming a schoolmarmy expression that instantly raised Phoebe's hackles.

"Why don't Whitelighters ever knock?" Piper mumbled, getting up. Natalie waved her back into her seat.

"I have met with the Elders and we agree that you must desist from your efforts to find Leo," she said, purposefully conveying the expression that the all-powerful Elders have asked for her advice. "We are not surprised that you have, once again, put your selfish desires before your duty to the magical world. And yet we are flabbergasted that you persist, even after you were told to leave Leo alone."

"Hi," Paige said brightly. "I don't know who you are, but where I come from, we don't go into other peoples' houses and insult them."

Natalie fixed her with a steely glare. "You, miss, have no right to be here."

"Actually, I was invited here," Paige shot back, "which is more than can be said for you."

Natalie refolded her arms and her mouth was set into a thin, stubborn line. "I have been sent to tell you to leave Leo. I have done my duty. Now it is time for you to do yours."

She orbed out, leaving four angry sisters in her wake.

"If Whitelighters are all like that," Paige muttered, "I am not sure I want to be one."

"Oh," Piper exploded. "You don't want to be a Whitelighter? Well, guess what, baby sister, I didn't want to be a witch! I have to spend my life vanquishing demons, putting my personal hopes and goals on the back burner to send demonspawn to hell and forever trying to get demonspit off of my favourite boots, all because Phoebe here had to go read a spell out loud in the attic! What I want and what you want makes absolutely no difference to the Elders and the sooner you get used to it, the better. Now, I am going to go to my club, which might have been burned to the ground for all I know, and relieve the assistant manager who has been working sixty hours this week alone. Prue, Phoebe, Paige … you do whatever you want. I am out."

"Piper, what about Leo?" Phoebe asked, grabbing her arm as Piper stormed past.

"I don't care," Piper said bitterly. "I don't. I have been nearly killed on a semi-daily basis since you read that spell in the Book of Shadows two years ago and I have not complained about it. But now, when we try to save Leo, we are told to butt out. I have had it. I have had enough with being a witch, with listening to the Elders and with trying to help Leo when he does everything possible to keep me at arm's length. I. Am. Done."

She punctuated her words by slamming the door on the way out.

Paige orbed.

Phoebe and Prue looked at each other in shock.

"Did she just …"

"How did …"

"I need coffee," Prue sighed and headed to the kitchen.

"Make mine Irish." Phoebe followed Prue and slumped into a seat at the table. "Do you think we should try to find her?"

"Why?" Prue asked, running water into the kettle.

"Just figured she might need some help." Phoebe shrugged and leaned her head against the table. "Hey, do you think Piper was serious?"

"About what?"

"Being done."

Prue looked at Phoebe, biting her bottom lip uncertainly. "I don't know," she said, finally. "I really don't know."


	14. Chapter 14

**14. **

The mug teetered precariously on the table, lost the battle against gravity and shattered onto the floor. Piper sighed. Her reflexes had been too slow to stop the mug from smashing and, to her tired ears, the sound had been deafening. She hadn't seen her sisters since last night's delightful discussion and she was anxious to avoid them. So she had gotten up softly, being too scared of missing her alarm's beeping to fall asleep properly, and showered quickly. Out of habit, and a craving for caffeine, she crept quietly to the kitchen to prepare the coffee and her failure to stop the mug from breaking had ruined her otherwise carefully laid plans. Some sister was sure to hear her, some sister was sure to come down to talk to her about returning to the ways of witchcraft.

_I'm going to need to talk to them at some stage. It's not going to be a fun conversation, but it's always best to rip off the Band-Aid. And, whether I like him right now or not, Leo is still an innocent that needs to be saved. I can always kick his ass after we rescue him. I mean they. After they rescue him. Piper, you're going to have to talk to them sooner or later. And sooner might be better._

Piper stiffened as she heard footsteps creaking above her.

"Screw it, I can get coffee at the club," she muttered mutinously as she dumped the remains of the coffee mug in the trash and left the kitchen.

_The Elders have a plan to save Leo anyway. Natalie told us to butt out and as much as I hate listening to Natalie, it seems that she may have a point. So I'm butting out now. See? This is me, off to my club to check on some deliveries, butting out. The Elders won't let Leo die._

She paused as she opened her car door, flashing back to an image of Leo bleeding from a poisonous bolt.

_Would they?_

xxxxxxxxxx

"Good morning," Paige said, somewhat nervously, as Phoebe opened the door.

Phoebe did her best to muster a smile for her youngest sister. "Hi. Where'd you go last night? Prue and I were a bit worried about you."

"Well," Paige explained as she followed Phoebe into the living room, "I really wanted to ... well, I wanted to get as far away from you guys as possible last night."

"I don't blame you," Phoebe grimaced.

"And, while I was thinking about how uncomfortable I felt and how badly I wanted to be anywhere but here, I ... orbed. To my own apartment. I practiced a few more times, going between my apartment and my office and anywhere else I could imagine clearly. It worked better than a SatNav system."

"Great," Phoebe said, genuinely impressed and slightly jealous. "It took the three of us much longer to learn how to control our powers."

Paige shrugged. "I think it's because I really want to help you guys. So, as they say in the military, what's our POA?"

"What's our POA?"

"That's what I'm asking you."

"No," Phoebe grinned, "I'm asking what POA is."

"Plan of action. You need to watch more action movies," Paige laughed.

"Once I get a boyfriend who can't let the latest Will Smith blockbuster pass, I'll ...," Phoebe paused. "Well, I'll probably get him to take you."

"Yeah, I suppose Darryl doesn't really want to watch movies with crooked cops and renegade rebels running around, breaking all sorts of professional codes."

"Oh, well, Darryl isn't my ... Well, not ... We're not ... It's not that ... I mean ... I do ... He ... You see?"

Paige nodded as though the incoherent string of verbs and pronouns made perfect sense. "I understand. So, how do we get Leo?"

xxxxxxxxxx

Piper muttered a word she'd heard from a teenage who got bounced from P3 a week ago as she knelt to pick up the broken vase. She had been startled by the sudden entrance of a delivery guy and had knocked the vase over. For the second time today, her reflexes had been too slow to stop something from smashing.

"Sorry I gave you a fright," the delivery guy apologised, shaking his hair from his eyes.

"It's okay," Piper waved away his apology. "I didn't like this vase anyway."

"Then I did you a favour and you should thank me," he suggested with a cheeky grin. A sexy cheeky grin.

_Whoa there, Anna Nicole Smith. You can't go noticing cute delivery guys and their sexy smiles before you've told your Whitelighter ex-boyfriend that he is, in fact, your Whitelighter ex-boyfriend. _

Piper half-smiled as she signed the delivery sheet.

_Although he does look slightly familiar, in a hey-have-I-seen-you-before kind of way. Don't be silly, Piper. Phoebe's the one that has premonitions and flashes from the past. You have the power to freeze things ... when the power decides to work, that is. Or rather, when you have the power to make your power work._

Piper shook her head at herself.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Something's wrong with that picture," Prue mused as she watched Paige on her first mission. As with all their plans, it had been simple. Phoebe had showed them the sketches she had made of her premonitions and the information from the Book of Shadows, allowing Paige to picture the cave so clearly that she could orb there. She orbed in, looked around, orbed back, then brought along Prue and Phoebe to ward off any demons who would try to prevent her from orbing Leo out.

"You mean the fact that there are no demon monkeys around to prevent us from saving Leo or the fact that Leo doesn't look like he wants to be saved? Yeah. My Spideysense is tingling, too," Phoebe replied. Although Leo was shackled in the cage, as per her premonition, there were no guards around. No harpies. No fang-toothed monkeys. No demonic lackeys clad in black. Upon seeing the three sisters, all armed with various potions to help ward off demon attacks, Leo's eyes had widened and he had trashed wildly in his cage. Paige ran toward his cage and grabbed hold of his arm to orb him out first. Despite his rambling cries and the noise of his chains against the bars, nobody came to protect their quarry. When Paige orbed back to get Prue and Phoebe to the Manor, she looked disgruntled. "I thought we were out helping one of the good guys."

"Leo ís one of the good guys," Prue frowned.

"One of the best, actually," Phoebe added. "What makes you think he's not a good guy, Paige?"

"His language, mostly," Paige shrugged. "And his it-shouldn't-be-you-it-should-be-Piper-what-about-the-Power-of-Three-rant. I didn't expect flowers or chocolate, but a simple thank-you-for-saving-my-afterlife would have been nice, you know."

Phoebe froze and pulled back from Paige as a realisation hit her.

_Power of Three. Three witches. Not one, not two and definitely not four. Three. Just three. Always just three. _

"You okay, Pheebs?" Prue asked. "Your eyes are doing the same thing Leo's did when we came in."

"Three," Phoebe whispered in reply, pointing at each of them in turn. "One. Two. Three."

"Glad to see those extra math classes wasn't a total waste of Grams' money," Prue said dryly, linking her arm with Phoebe's.

"You don't understand," Phoebe said, pulling loose. "The Power of Three. One. Two. Three. That's why Natalie told us not to save Leo. That's why the Elders sent her to told us to butt out. Three, Prue, three!"

Prue blinked. "You mean ..."

"Piper isn't part of the Power of Three anymore," Phoebe explained. "It's you, me and Paige now."

"I'm confused," Paige said, waving her hand as though she was in class. "And we are having a confusing discussion in a cave in the Underworld. Couldn't it wait until we got home? Or at least back into the physical realm?"

"We think that when Piper said what she did about not wanting to be a witch, she automatically bound her own powers," Phoebe clarified. "And, since she was no longer part of the Power of Three, you got your powers and because you wanted to be anywhere but the Manor, you orbed."

Paige whistled slowly. "I'm guessing she's not going to be happy about that when she finds out."

"Never mind happy," Prue said sharply, as another realisation slammed into her mind, "she's a very big bulls-eye for any demon wandering about without an active power."

"Hello!" Phoebe said, pointing at herself. "I managed wandering about without an active power."

"Because you started self-defence classes. You're like Krav Maga Barbie," Prue said. "Piper is in danger and she doesn't know it."

"Who from?" Paige asked, a note of incredulity in her voice.

Phoebe sighed, remembering a time when daily demonic attacks were a figment of her imagination and not a way of life. "Anyone who knows about the Charmed Ones."

Prue, who was still staring around the empty cave with a perplexed expression, swung around to look at them. "Not just anyone. Somebody who must have known about Paige, must have foreseen the possibility that her entry into our lives would ... change things."

"Very diplomatically put," Paige grinned.

"I try," Prue said calmly. "Oldest children are natural diplomats, apparently."

"But we didn't even know about Paige. Leo did, but he's high up in the spiritual world," Phoebe argued. "And it's unlikely that Paige's existence would've changed things the way it did."

"If Piper didn't storm out, I might have had. In fact, if Paige had appeared into our lives a few weeks earlier, I would've thought of her as the answer to all of my problems," Prue pointed out, then waved around the cave. "Besides, they go through a lot of trouble to nab our Whitelighter. Hurting mortals and being seen? Things harpies usually avoid."

"They know we'll come looking for him, so they look him up in a place that we can't go, but that our half-Whitelighter half-sister might be able to access," Phoebe continued Prue's train of thought. "And they know that we'll need him to rescue her."

"And rescuing him is par for the course."

"Of course."

"But when we get there, they have nobody to guard him. Nobody to stop us. Nobody trying to cash in on the chance of killing a Charmed One," Prue paced up and down. "That means that kidnapping Leo was a decoy, not the end, but a means to the end."

"The end of the Charmed Ones?"

Prue nodded. "Looks like it."

"But if they wanted to kill us," Paige interjected, "why not have a few big, mean uglies waiting for us here?"

Phoebe and Prue looked at her, then at the scattered potions around them. "Because they knew we'll come prepared," Prue said gently.

"Because they'll take a lot of damage trying to kill us that way," Phoebe added. "Far better to have us fight amongst ourselves."

Prue nodded in agreement. "Far more effective to have us destroy ourselves."

"But how does Piper not having a power destroy the Charmed Ones?" Paige asked, trying not to sound facetious. "I mean, I have a power, too. It's not like I'm the Supernatural equivalent of Rainman."

"True, but we might resent you for inadvertently causing Piper to bind her powers," Prue replied. "Or for existing. Or for reminding us every day that while the Elders have done everything in their omnipotent powers to prevent Leo and Piper from having a happy relationship, they let our witch-mother and her Whitelighter fall in love and have a child together."

"Or for having better powers than we do," Phoebe added, almost cheerfully. Prue nudged her. "What? Like orbing isn't ten times more powerful than silly premonitions?"

Paige stifled a snort of laughter. "We couldn't have gotten here without your premonitions, Phoebe."

"Yes, you're like the map without which the car is useless and the journey cannot begin," Prue said. "Now that we're done soothing your ego, can we return to the problem at hand?"

"So much for the oldest child being natural diplomats," Phoebe sniffed. "And I still say it seems unlikely that somebody who is not high up in the spiritual world would know about Paige."

"Remember that there's two teams to any match, Pheebes."

Phoebe's eyes widened. "You mean ..."

"Uh huh."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Report."

It was a chilling voice, a sound that reverberated with menace and risk, an echo of aeons of tragedy and torture and pain. It was a voice that would make the bravest of the brave whimper with agony and fear. Yet the man in the circle of light, blinded by the darkness around the perimeter of light, seemed undisturbed. He pulled the delivery cap from his head and shook his hair from his eyes.

"Piper's powers are gone," he stated confidently.

"Are you sure?"

The man nodded, absent-mindedly rubbing a crease in his delivery uniform. "I went to P3 this morning and when she knocked over a vase, she was unable to freeze it. I saw her try. Which means that Prue, Phoebe and Paige have gone to retrieve the Whitelighter."

"Will the Whitelighter inform her of our plans?"

The man shrugged. "As far as he is aware of them. The Charmed Ones are certainly capable of putting together some components themselves, so we would be wisest to assume that they would be guarded against danger. Some form of danger."

"Should we not abandon our plans and revise our current course of action?"

"No need. The Charmed Ones are always on their guard for danger. But for danger from the spiritual realm. Not danger in the guise of a sexy, single, seemingly perfect young man," the delivery guy shot back. "I am confident in the second phase of our plans."

"Who will we target?"

"Piper is sure to be on the rebound from her Whitelighter, but the connection is too strong for us to break. Phoebe would have been ideal, but for her unfortunate attachment to the policeman. Prue is still in mourning for her own policeman," the man mused, stroking his chin and pulling at his beard in thought.

"There seems to be one clear option."

The man looked straight into the darkness, his eyes gleaming with malice. "Yes. There is."


End file.
